


Green Tea with Sugar and Cream

by HungryLibrary



Category: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Genre: F/F, Family, Fluff, Gen, everyday life in the T. Harlaown - Takamachi family, mother-daughter, sat down after a big thanks giving dinner and this appeared out of nowhere, tiny smidge of angst but it's barely there, vivio being cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 07:05:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12812241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: Vivio makes a cup of tea that she doesn't really want to drink and ends up enjoying it anyway- Though definitely NOT because of it's taste.Or.Daughters and mothers having small moments together and wanting to remember them.





	Green Tea with Sugar and Cream

Green tea with lots of sugar and cream. Vivio counts the clinks of the spoon as she stirs, creamy swirls spreading until they blend into each other and disappear.

She can feel Nanoha-mama watching her from across the kitchen table, can picture the wince as she sets down the spoon and lifts the cup. It's the same reaction Nanoha-mama always has whenever someone makes tea this way.

Vivio understands why. It's a very, very strange taste as she takes the first sip.

It's strange but familiar too.

-

"Fate-mama, Fate-mama." Tiny hands on the edge of the table, Vivio bounces on her heels trying to get a better view. "What are you making?"

"Ah."

Fate-mama's eyes always smile when she looks at Vivio. Even now, when there are dark shadows under them and deep lines cutting at their corners, they light up and more crinkles appear as the rest of Fate-mama smiles too.

"I'm making tea." She sets spoon and cup aside for a moment though and Vivio grins as she's scooped up easily and into her mama's lap. "I would make some for you and Nanoha-mama too, but this tea is a bit different than usual. Not many people like it."

Across the table Nanoha-mama pulls a face.

"No kidding." She mutters, hands curling protectively around her own cup as she eyes Fate-mama's drink dubiously. "I still have no idea how you can drink it like that, Fate-chan."

Fate-mama's eyes also smile whenever she looks at Nanoha-mama. "Well the memories taste good anyway, so it all works out."

"Memories?"

Vivio watches intently as Fate-mama adds sugar and cream to the tea and stirs, spoon clinking exactly eight times.

Lifting out the spoon Fate-mama hums quietly, a sound Vivio more feels that hears.

"Mm. Your Grandma Lindy likes to drink it this way."

A spark of excitement, Vivio turns to grin up at her Fate-mama. "She does? Fate-mama's mama drinks tea just like this?"

"She does." The arm holding Vivio safely on Fate-mama's lap squeeze tight in a quick hug, making Vivio giggle and Nanoha-smile. "And sometimes, when I was younger, I would find in the kitchen late at night making some and we would sit together over a cup."

Looking down at the tea Vivio couldn't help but feel a bit skeptical.

"Is it... good?"

Fate-mama hesitates.

Nanoha-mama snickers and quickly takes a drink from her own cup when they both look over, trying to hide her tiumphant smirk.

"It... takes time to appreciate."

The rueful tone of Fate-mama's voice says she didn't blame Nanoha-mama for laughing at all, which just makes Vivio even more suspicious as she peers down at the 'tea'.

"Honestly it was getting to spend time with her that I liked." Fate-mama goes on as she picks up her cup. "In time the two became linked, though, and now whenever I want to remember that feeling I just make myself some of this."

Vivio twists in Fate-mama's lap to watch her take a sip.

Out of the corner of her eye she sees Nanoha-mama shudder, and that makes her want to laugh again.

Except Fate-mama doesn't shudder or flinch as she drinks. Instead her eyes close, some of the lines between them vanishing as her face relaxes. It reminds Vivio a lot of how Nanoha-mama looks whenever she bakes something from Earth, and both her mamas get that look whenever Fate-mama came back from a mission, or after picking Vivio up from a sleepover.

It's a look that means 'home', Vivio decides.

And she also decides she wants to have a bit of it too.

"Can I try some?"

There's a splutter from the other side of the table as Nanoha-mama almost chokes on her tea.

Fate-mama, once Nanoha-mama waves a hand to show she's alright and washes some of the concern from Fate-mama's face, looks just as surprised.

"You can." She lowers the cup back to the table, steadying it at Vivio wraps her smaller hands around it. "But Vivio, just take a small sip okay? It really doesn't taste like normal tea and I don't want to make you feel sick..."

"Okay."

Giving the tea a cautious sniff, Vivio doesn't think Fate-mama needed to warn her about that. She's having trouble just convincing herself to bring the cup to her lips.

Screwing up her courage, and her eyes for good measure, Vivio pulls in a deep breath.

"I'm digging in!"

She takes a very teeny tiny sip.

Then she sits back in Fate-mama's lap and thinks about it for a moment.

"Well?" Resting her elbows on the table Nanoha-mama leans in eagerly, looking a little worried, impressed, and horrified all at once. "How is it, Vivio?"

Glancing up from the cup to meet Fate-mama's anxious eyes, Vivio knows she can and should tell the truth.

So she does.

"I hate it."

And the startled burst of laughter Fate-mama lets out is worth the terrible taste in her mouth. Then Nanoha-mama joins in, laughing until tears appear at the corners of her eyes and she has to bury her head in her hands, and Vivio thinks this might even be worth having to brush her teeth twice before bedtime.

She also feels some part of her relax and settle as she watches her mamas. A warm feeling rises up in her chest, like a pillow and a hug and a cup of hot chocolate all rolled into one.

Smiling her own special 'I'm home' smile, Vivio leans in and takes another quick sip while her mamas are distracted.

It still tastes bad, really really bad.

But as much as she hates the tea, she loves the moment it made. She'd like to do this again sometime and remember spending this time with her mamas, just like Fate-mama remembers being with her's.

-

"Do you think Fate-mama drinks this when she's away too?"

"Eh?"

Looking up from double checking a review of her latest batch of victims, more officially known as students, Nanoha-mama blinks over at Vivio for a second. Then the words register and she smiles.

"Oh, the green milk tea? I know she does."

Now it was Vivio's turn to blink in surprise. "You know? Did she tell you she does?"

Shaking her head Nanoha-mama looks back down at her work.

"No, nothing like that." She hums. "But one time Teana asked if there was something she could do to help Fate-chan when things start getting tense out there, so I told her smuggle the ingredients for that... stuff."

Nanoha-mama pauses to shudder just at the thought.

"On board next time and make her a cup if she gets too focused or broody. Teana's kept some around ever since, I think."

Vivio feels like she has to be hearing things.

"You told her to do that?" She asks incredulously, staring across the table. "But you hate that way of making tea!"

Nanoha-mama's eye flick back up again, a mischievous glint twinkling in slate blue.

"So do you, if I remember right."

A hot flush creeps up Vivio's cheeks. "I did- I do!" She looks down into her cup, inspects the cloudy, creamy swirls still turning there and uses the back of her teeth to scrap some of the sweetness off her tongue. How Grandma Lindy could actually like this is still a mystery to her, but-

"It's just that, even if tastes bad when I drink it, even so..."

"The memories taste good anyway?"

Lifting her head Vivio meets her mama's eyes, warm and a little sad, and feels a wave of something like homesickness at the echoed words.

"Yeah."

They share a smile.

The seat between them, Vivio's usual spot when there are three at the table, is empty. Vivio would rather have it that way than having to always see Fate-mama's chair sitting there, looking so lonely without anyone in it. She wonders what Nanoha-mama does when she's at school or practice the whole rest of the house is empty too.

But at least for right now her mama is smiling, eyes closing as she breathes in.

"They really are good memories, aren't they."

It's only then Vivio realizes the scent of Fate-mama's tea has drifted through the kitchen, softened the gaps she usually filled and easing some of the tierd lines from Nanoha-mama's face.

"... Yeah." Vivio says again, feelings of homesickness and home mixing in her chest. "I'm sure Fate-mama is enjoying them too, wherever she is."

Nanoha-mama smiles that much brighter.

"Definitely. And we'll all make new ones together when she gets back."

With a little nod to herself she goes back to work on her review with much more energy that she had before.

Vivio watches her, happy her mama feels better but not quite able to share the good mood.

As always a little tang of bile has risen up in Vivio's throat at the thought that maybe this time Fate-mama wouldn't- No. She takes another sip and pushes the nightmare notion down again, ignoring if it's a little harder to swallow this time. For once the almost mind-numbing sweetness of the tea feels like a good thing.

And if she shuts her eyes and just focuses on the taste sticking to her tongue, it's easy to remember when her hands were smaller and when Fate-mama could lift her into her lap like she was made of air. It's easy to remember and to imagine she can hear her mama laughing, see her smile, feel the gentle squeeze of a one-armed hug, and pretend she's already back.

Home, she thinks wistfully.

Even though she and Nanoha-mama are ones who stay behind, it doesn't quite feel like home when Fate-mama's away.

The tea helps though.

Looking down at it Vivio makes a face.

She's probably going to learn how to 'appreciate' it too, at this rate.


End file.
